By Writer
On Wednesday 29th of March, author James Nicol did a presentation in our school about his new book, The Spell Tailors. We interviewed him about his experience as a writer and were given tips on both reading and writing as a whole.
His experience with writing
James said he began writing from his late teens to early twenties but he said he often loved collecting ideas for stories when he was much younger, such as making maps of fantasy worlds. We queried him about what types of books he enjoyed and what he thought made a good book. James said he loved all genres and types of books and how good it was depended on who was reading it and why, as long as it is unique and captures your imagination. When we asked where the best place to write was, James responded saying he loved to write on trains, saying that it's good to have a place where you can’t do anything other than write, and it's noisy but not too loud at the same time. We asked him too about his characters and if anybody inspired them. He said, "No, I don’t tend to base characters on anyone that I know, but I do take names sometimes. Although maybe the two grandmothers, the one in The Apprentice Witch and the one in The Spell Tailors, are based on my two Nanas because they were so inspirational."
Books
James’s new book, The Spell Tailors, was published in September 2022, and is about a boy named Hen who lives in a family who can sew spells into clothes. But the family business is struggling as a cheap clothing factory opens nearby. Hen thinks that he can save their business when he comes across a stitch that can sew memories into clothes but is instead banned from making clothes ever again. Hen now has to unravel a mystery before it's too late. We asked James many questions about his new book and how it compared to writing his first series The Apprentice Witch. He told us that even though publishing took longer due to covid, it took less time to write. It was an exciting new story with new characters, it was a lot more personal and more pieces of his family went into it. As well as this we asked him how he felt about the new Apprentice Witch TV series which is in the making, James told us he was looking forward to it. "Although it could be a few more years. Everything that they’re doing at the moment is really exciting, but I can’t tell anyone about it at the moment because it's a secret."
As well as his books, we quizzed him on stories in general, we asked him, if he could be any character in a book what would he be. He said if it was specifically his books, he would be Margarie the shleep because she gets to sleep all day, but in general he would be the new Mrs De Winter, an unnamed and mysterious character in the Rebecca series by Daphne du Maurier. We also asked him what was his favourite book growing up, he told us it was Dodie Smith’s 101 Dalmatians.
So, if you’re looking for a magical read, look no further than The Spell Tailors, which can be found in our school library!
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